Guard rail for pig inclosures



E. C.FETERKE. GUARD RAIL FOR PIG INCLOSURES.

flaw. 'ATTORNEY v INVENTQR 2 SHEETS-SHEET Patented Mar. 7,1922.

APPLICATION FILED'JUNE IT, 1921.

UNITE stars.

aren't critics.

. EDWARD c. rn'rnnnn, on FAIR-FIELD, Iowa, assrenon T0 *rnn nonnnn"MACHINERY COMPANY, or nnrnrrntn'rowa, A conronnrron or IOWA.

GUARD RAIL roe PIG incnosnnns.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

Application filed June 17, 1921. Serial No. 478,292.

Enclosures, of which the following is a specification. 1

y invention relates to guard-rails to be applied to hog pensor hoghouses and the like, to afford a zone of safety for little pigs, and toprevent the mother from crushing them against the walls'of theinclosure,

which is liable to happen unless there is some protection; and itconsists of an improved constructionof the means for attaching-theguard-rails, whereby they may be easily and quickly placed in operativeposition and as easily and quickly be folded up out ofthe way when notneeded. Also, of otherimproved features which will be set forth in thespecification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Fig.l. is a perspective of a portion of a panel of a hog pen, showing aguard-rail attached and in operative position by means embodying myinvention. Fig. Bis the same sl'iowing the guardrail folded up out ofthe way, a portion of one of the connections being broken away, as willbe hereafter explained. Fig.

3 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 33 of Fig; 1. Fig. t is anenlarged trans verse section on line l-l of Fig. 1, looking in thedirection of thearrow. Fig. 5 is a plan View showing the attachment of asection of the guard-rail on opposite sides oi? a partition in ahog-pen.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the floor, and B a portion ofthe curb of a hog pen. A portion of one of the panels of the pen isshown by a section of the lower rail G and by sections of the fillers D.A pair of quadrant shaped supporting members E are secured to two of thefillers D by means 'of bolts F passed through clips Cr and through theflanges on the ends of the members E. It is preferable that thesesupporting members should consist of two mat ing parts one of which isremoved in one of the connections shown in Fig. .2.

Extension members H to which the guardrail I is attached by means ofclamps J are pivoted in the outer upper ends of the supporting members Eby means of bolts ii passed through thimbles T. Theopenings in themembers H, in which the thimbles are inserted are made oblong, or in theform of a slot, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3,.whereby the members H willhave a limited end movement in the supporting members E.

The members H are preferably made hollow with closed inner ends and withprojecting fingers or lugs L on said inner ends, as shown in Figs. 2 and3. The members E are made rights and lefts, and when placed on oppositesides of the members H there will be a space between them to permit themovement of the pivoted ends of the membersI-l. A spring is applied toeach of the members H, preferably by inserting a compression coiledspring M, in the hollow of the member between its closed inner end andthe thimbles T. These springs will push the inner ends of the members asfar as the thiinbles in the oblong or slotted openings will permit.

The quadrant shaped portions of the members E have inwardly matingflanges N on most of their lower and inner edges, butat their extremeupper and lower ends these flanges are cut away so as to form notchedrecesses O and P. When the members H with the guard-rail attached are inthe position shown in Fig.1, the lugs L will be forced into the notchedrecess 0 by the pressure of the springs M, and will be held therein bythe'tension of the springs. When in this position the guard-rail I willbeheld within a few inches of the floor A, and the.

mother of the little pigs will be prevented by the rail from getting anycloser to the curb B, while the little pigs can easily pass under therail and cannot be crushed by their mother.

When the guard-rail is not needed it can be readily, turned up out ofthe way, as shown in Fig. .2, by taking hold of the rail and pulling itout to overcome the tension oi the springs, when the lugs L will bewithdrawn from the notched recesses O and will rest on the flanges N.The members H can then turned on their pivots and the rail can bereadily raised until it assumes the position shown in Fig. 2, when thesprings will force the lugs L into the sary is to pull it up to overcomethe tension ofthe springs when the lugs L will be withdrawn, from thenotched recesses P, and the members H can be turned on the pivot bolts Kuntil the lugs L will enter the notched recesses O, and the rail will beheld in the position shown by Fig. 1.

To place a guardrail on each side of a partition in a hog-pen orhoghouse when a panel with fillers D is use-d, thelclipflG is taken off anda pair or supporting members E are placed on opposite-sides of thefillers, soxthe flanges through which the bolts F are passed will abuteach other and the bolts will be passed through these flanges to securethe membersto the fillers, as shown by the plan view of Fig. 5. a

The guard-rail can be readily attached to the wall of a hog house byremoving the clips G and passing bolts or screws through the holes inthe flanges on the rear endsof the members E and into or through thewall. lo hold the members E more securely together lugs R are preferablyformed on the lower edges through which a boltis passed. The arrangementis extremely simple and inexpensive, and is also effective in operation.

i .What I claim'is:

of supporting members adapted to be attached to the structure of theinclosure, said members having a pair of spaced apart notched recessesin their bodies; a pair of extension members pivoted in the supportingmembers so as to have end movement therein; and their inner ends beingadapted to enter and to be withdrawn from said recesses; a guardrailsecured to the outer ends of said extension members,'and a spring applied to each extension member to push it endwise, whereby the inner endof each member will be held in one or another of the notched recesses,until released therefrom by overcoming the tension of the springs andthe guard rail will be rigidly held in either operative or foldedposition when the ends of the extension members are in one or the otherof the recesses.

2. In guard-rails for pig inclosures, a pair of supporting membersadapted'to be at tached to thestructure of the inclosure, said membersconsisting of a pair of mating eastings having a pair of spaced apartnotched recesses between them; a pair of extension members pivotedbetween said castings so as to have end movement on'their pivots, andtheir inner pends adapted to enter and'to be withdrawn from saidrecesses; a guard-rail secured to the outer ends of the extensionmembers, and a spring applied to each extension member to push itendwise, whereby the inner end of each member will be held in one oranother of said notched recesses until released therefrom by overcomingthe tension of the springs and the guard rail will-be rigidly held ineither operative or folded position when the ends of the extension inen'bers are in one orthe other of the recesses.

3, In guard-rails for pig inclosures, a pair of supporting membersadapted to be at tached to the structure of the inclosure, said membersconsisting of a pair of mating-castings having quadrant shaped edges andinwardly mating flanges on said edges with notched recesses at the upperand lower ends of the flanges; a pair of extension members pivotedbetween said castings so as to have end movement on their pivots, andtheir inner ends adapted to enter and tobeiwith drawn iromsaid recessesa a'guard rail-securedto the outer endsof the extension members, and aspring applied to each extension member to push it endwise, whereby theinner end of each member will be held in one or the other of saidnotched recesses until released therefromby overcoming the tension ofthe springs. I i

l. In guardrails for pig inclosures, a pair of supporting membersadaptedto beat tached to the structure of the inclosure, said membersconsisting of a pair of mating castings having spaced apart notchedrecesses between them a pair of extension members pivoted betweensaidcastings so as to have pression coiled spring inserted in the hollowof each extension member, one end of the spring bearing against thepivot of the extension member and the other end of the spring bearingagainst the closed end of the member, whereby the lug on the inner endof each member will be held in tumor another of said notched recessesuntil'released therefrom by overcoming the tensionof the springs.

In a device of the character described, a guard-rail spaced a distanceaway from the inclosure in which it is installed; a pair of supportingmembers adapted to be attached to the structure of the inclosure andhaving spaced apart notched recesses in their bodies, each member havingspaced apart portions; a pair of extension members havmg then outer endsaiiixed to the guardrail and a slotted opening in a central portion ofeach of the members, their bodies being hollow and their inner endsclosed; a'thimble inserted in each of the slotted openings and placedbetween the spaced apart portions of the supporting members; a boltpassed through each of the thimbles and through corresponding holes ineach of said spaced apart portions, the thimbles thereby forming pivotsfor the extension members, and a coiled compression spring inserted inthe hollow of each extension member, one end of the spring bearingagainst the thimble and the other end against the closed end of themember, whereby the closed ends of the member will be held in one oranother of said notched recesses until released therefrom by overcomingthe tension of the springs, thereby rigidly holding the guardrail whenin raised or lowered position.

6. In guard-rails for pig inclosures having partitions therein, a pairof supporting members, secured to each side of the partition by boltsconnecting the abutting sets of the members together, said membershaving spaced apart notched recesses in their bodies; a pair ofextension members pivoted in the supporting members on each side of thepartition so as to have end movement therein, and their inner endsadapted to enter, and to be withdrawn from said notched recesses; aguard-rail secured to the outer ends of the extension members, and meansapplied to each extension to push it endwise, whereby the inner end ofeach extension member will be held in one or another of the notchedrecesses until released therefrom by pulling the members endwise awayfrom said recesses.

F airfield, Iowa, June 14th, 1921.

EDWARD C. PETERKE.

